Such an accumulator table with a transfer device is known from US 2012/0132503 A1. This patent publication describes a table for accumulating items with two planar inlet and outlet conveyors. A diverting member is placed in-between the inlet and outlet conveyor for transferring items from the inlet conveyor to the outlet conveyor. The diverting member is shaped as a curved wall arranged on a longitudinally moveable carriage. The wall extends over substantially the whole width of the inlet conveyor.
A disadvantage of the transfer device disclosed in US 2012/0132503 is that the diverting member is rather passive and merely redirects products or items pushed against the curved wall by the inlet conveyor. Apart from offering little control over the transfer process, the transfer process itself also proves to be rather chaotic. Products often get trapped inside the transfer device, e.g. causing jams near the curved wall, and products are often pushed onto the outlet conveyor in an erratic way, i.e. it is hard to predict what the arrangement of products will be on the outlet conveyor. Furthermore, due to the inlet conveyor being required to provide the kinetic energy for transferring the product from the inlet conveyor to the outlet conveyor, the inlet conveyor wears relatively fast.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an accumulator table with a transfer device, wherein control over the transfer process is improved.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an accumulator table that prevents products from getting trapped inside the transfer device.
It is another object of the invention to provide an accumulator table with a transfer device, wherein the arrangement of products on the outlet conveyor can be accurately predicted.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide an accumulator table, wherein the orientation of the products remains the same after transfer by the transfer device.
It is an even further object of the invention to provide an accumulator table, wherein the products do not impact on each other during transfer.